Sermon Overview
Scripture Passage: 1 Corinthians 1:18

When we live for Jesus Christ, believing in the Gospel, we will be looked upon as fools by this world. What God calls wisdom, the world calls foolishness. And what the world calls wisdom, God calls foolishness.

Adrian Rogers says, “The Gospel is so radically different: it starts at a different source, follows a different course, and ends at a different conclusion. We don’t need to make it compatible with this world.”

The cross of Jesus Christ is the measurement of a man’s foolishness or wisdom. It is how we can know if we are wise or otherwise.

God speaks, demonstrates His power, saves us, and sanctifies us through the cross.

God speaks through the cross. God reveals Himself in many ways, but we will never know His heart and mind until we understand the cross. Fools look for signs and wonders and often overlook Jesus as the Messiah because He died upon the cross.

God demonstrates His power and wisdom through the cross. 1 Corinthians 1:18 says, “For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.”

God also saves us through the cross; it is how He provided salvation for our souls. While others may take offense to it, we believe that the cross is God’s only way of salvation.

Finally, God sanctifies us by the cross; not only have we been saved, but we are also being saved. God is in the process of making us more like Jesus. Salvation is in three tenses:

We have been saved from the penalty of sin.
Presently, we are being saved daily from the power of sin -- it is an ongoing process.
We will be saved from the presence of sin when the rapture occurs.
The Christian life isn’t hard…it is impossible. It commences with a miracle, which is the new birth, and concludes with a miracle, which is the resurrection. But it also continues with a miracle.

If we wish to be wise, we must learn to live the principle of the cross; to die to ourselves every day so that the Holy Spirit can live through us.

Apply it to your life
Are you actively seeking God’s wisdom? God speaks, demonstrates His wisdom, saves us, and sanctifies us by the cross. Are you living by the principle of the cross—dying daily so that Christ can live through you?